Dubai: With the World Cup frenzy reaching fever pitch, Dubai’s singing sensation Suchetha Satish has hit upon a unique way to pay tribute to the sporting extravaganza.
Since June 11, she has been singing a song in the native language of each of the participating teams and dedicating it to them through her Facebook page.
For the World Cup dedication series, she chooses songs in the most widely spoken or popular language of a particular country. “This is my tribute to such a popular game,” she said.
Brazil
Croatia
Iceland
Japan
Nigeria
Peru
Tunisia
It takes her between 30 minutes to 2 hours to memorise a song.
In January, this eighth grader from the Indian High School set two records by singing 102 songs in different languages at a marathon concert which lasted six hours and 20 minutes. Her records were registered with The World Record Academy (US equivalent of Guinness) — ‘Most number of languages sung during one concert’ and ‘Longest live singing by a child in one concert’.
On the ball
It was her brother Sushant’s craze for football that inspired Sucheta to embark on the World Cup initiative. “I borrow his jerseys according to the country I am dedicating the songs to. He also fills me in on trivia about the teams,” she said.
The first video in the series which rolled out on June 11 was dedicated to her favourite team Brazil and featured the ever popular Lambada. “Through this initiative I aim to prove that music and sport have no boundaries,” said Suchetha.
Suchetha started singing at the age of four and has performed across the UAE and India. Her mother Sumita recalled how it all began. “Two years ago, a Japanese friend came to visit us and he casually hummed a song. Sucheta picked it up and sang it to us in an hour’s time. That is when we began to notice her innate talent.”
Within a few months she had learnt songs in almost a hundred languages. “She never writes down any lyrics but listens to the song till she memorises them,” she added.
In February she performed at the Dubai Opera House for the community reception in honour of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “I hope by the next World Cup I will be able to dedicate a song to my home country India. With the advent of Indian Super League and players like Sunil Chhetri, the dream could be a reality,” said Suchetha.
